Draft Recommendation to increase funding for Early Head Start and School-based Child Care (Item 2bii) — original pdf

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BOARD/COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION Early Childhood Council 20220412-2bii: Early Head Start and School-based Child Care WHEREAS, the City of Austin Strategic Plan, Economic Opportunity and Affordability Strategy 10 is to create equitable access to quality Early Childhood Education (ECE) by supporting families who do not qualify for existing free programs and cannot afford quality programs on their own, increasing availability of quality ECE programs, and encouraging living wages for ECE providers; WHEREAS, the City of Austin Strategic Plan, Economic Opportunity and Affordability Strategy 11 is to advance economic mobility by equipping and empowering families with wrap around services over a multi-year period so that parents can succeed in the workforce and children are prepared to succeed in adulthood; WHEREAS, almost 32,000 children under 6 in Austin live in households with low incomes (less than 200% of federal poverty level); WHEREAS, increasing access to high quality early care and education for infants and toddlers is a state and local priority for both the United Way Success By 6 Coalition and the Texas Prenatal to Age 3 Collaborative agenda; WHEREAS, a stimulating and nurturing environment during the first three years of life is centrally important for cognitive and social development of children; WHEREAS, the number of child care spaces available and affordable for parents with low incomes is very small in comparison to the need; WHEREAS, school-based child care helps parenting adolescents to stay in school and to graduate, which in turn is a benefit for their own futures and those of their children; WHEREAS, school districts attended by many students in the city other than AISD do not currently offer child care (e.g., Del Valle); NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Early Childhood Council encourages the Austin City Council to increase funding for child care services under the Community Development Block Grant for a) Early Head Start and b) expansion of the Teen Parent Child Care Program to provide child care for teen parents who are enrolled in districts other than Austin Independent School District (AISD). Date of Approval: _____________________________ Record of the vote: _____________________________ Attest: _____________________________________________